Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert, the creators of Sky hit series “Pagan Peak,” will direct “Hagen Von Tronje,” based on the Wolfgang Hohlbein bestseller, a reinterpretation of the Nibelungen saga. Martin Moszkowicz and Oliver Berben will produce the project for Constantin Film as both a feature-length film and a six-part series. Production will start next year.
Hohlbein, whose book was published in 1986, turns the constellation of the Nibelungen saga – best known as the inspiration for Richard Wagner’s operatic cycle “Der Ring des Nibelungen” – upside down in order to focus on the story’s core messages: any means are justified in the struggle for power, and love is a more powerful weapon than the sword.
Hagen von Tronje, the dark knight of the Nibelungen saga, becomes a lonely hero. The last of the Vikings, allied with the ancient gods, he stands for courage, loyalty and individual freedom. Siegfried, the ruler of the Nibelungen, formerly portrayed as the most shining of all heroes, appears as an unscrupulous upstart here, the representative of an authoritarian regime based on a new religion, Christianity.
Boss and Stennert have been working as a writing and directing duo since 2000. Their first motion picture was “The Vexxer” (2006), followed by “Jerry Cotton” (2010) and “Victor and the Secret of Crocodile Mansion” (2012). Their most recent works were “Rivals Forever – The Sneaker Battle” and the acclaimed Sky series “Pagan Peak.”